E-bike share scheme launched in west Mayo community
The Mulranny Community E-bike Share Scheme has been launched today.
Local residents over 18 can book an E-Bike by phoning the Tourist Office up to 1 p.m. on (087) 3838550.
The Mulranny Green Plan Group is delighted with the launch Ireland’s first community owned electric bike share scheme.
The electric bike (E-Bike) share scheme will promote smarter travel and encourage our community to leave the car at home for both short and long journeys which will help to reduce our carbon emissions.
The Mulranny Energy Master Plan, funded by The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland through the Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) programme, identified that 35% of the community’s energy costs and 27% of our CO2 emissions come from transport.
Mulranny has been an SEC since 2017.
A fantastic feature of the scheme is that the E- bikes will be charged from clean renewable energy.
Solar PV panels with battery storage have been installed at Mulranny’s Tourist Office and the E-bikes will be charged from this renewable energy source.
Outdoor sockets, powered by the Solar PV array are also now available to the public as a free E-bike charging point.
The E-bikes have a 100km battery range so trips to our neighbouring towns, leisure cycles on the Greenway or along the coast will now be possible no matter the fitness level of the user.
Encouraging more people to use bicycles will improve the health and wellbeing of the community and the use of electric bikes will encourage intergenerational cycling.
The project will also act as a demonstration model of renewable energy electricity generation with battery storage.
A TV screen in the tourist office shows, in real time, the energy generated, used, stored and exported to the National Grid.
The project was supported with LEADER Funding through South West Mayo Development Company, The Community Foundation for Ireland and county councillors.
Technical support was provided by our SEAI, Sustainable Energy Community Mentor, Orla Nic Suibhne and Mel Gavin from the Institute of Technology Sligo.